28 May 2009 - Regatta training

15 nautical miles

OK, so here's the buzz... having done well last year in the Regatta, of course I want to do well this year. So... there are two new youngsters in the area - Josh and Jacob - one the son of a friend, the other son of a colleague. Both of them are interested in learning to sail. Today I took them both out together as my trainee crew. One of them in particular is very competitive ['We have to win'] which is not a bad attitude to start racing with.

First order of the day was to practice tacking - so that we can do it smoothly and quickly. Also control of the genoa for best speed [having a GPS that tells you if your SOG is improving is a definite help] and opening bailers etc.

Then move on to running before the wind... goose winged... which requires the crew to get out and rig the whisker pole. Now that is trickier, especially as it requires going from beating up to the buoy, rounding the buoy as a broad reach into a run and at that point getting the genoa to the other side and rigging the whisker pole. Similarly coming out of a run, removing the pole has to be learnt.

I was surprised we did as many miles as we did - 15 in total. Some of the runs were great - we were surfing down the waves. The GPS says we maxed out at 8.6 knots, which was surfing pretty well.

Good day. Hopefully one more training day before the regatta. I suppose I should go by my middle name of James, then the story will be the three Js go sailing!